Despite downpours and huge wind gusts, I ventured out to Honesdale for the Relay for Life. I was asked to be a vendor at this Relay when I first began organizing events for the American Cancer Society last October. My husband wondered why I was still going to go and set up despite the rain.

I simply told him, “Because people still have cancer even when it rains.”

So I set up my canopy and table, put out my catalogs and products for sale, and got all my products for sampling ready and presentable. I walked over, looking like a wet dog, to the radio DJ booth and asked him to announce my presence over the mic and invite people to come try out some Country Bunny products.

That did the trick.

I probably did hear about a half dozen times, “Oh Bath and Body Works is here!” Even one woman was adament that she had bought some type of pump thing from my store…a store which doesn’t even exist by the way. By the fourth time I repeated that I was not Bath & Body Works, she looked at me confused and asked, “Yes, but if I bought Lavender there, why wouldn’t you sell the same thing?” I just gave up. lol.

I did well selling $141 (all of which were new customers!) and a portion of that goes to the American Cancer Society, but the best part was hearing everyone’s stories when they came to my table. A breast cancer survivor here, a friend recently diagnosed there, even a husband and wife who had been diagnosed with cancer at the same time…but unfortunately the husband did not survive, so the wife was there walking for him. I was so touched and moved by these survivors and those who have been touched by cancer in some way.

I signed the ACS banner with the statement, “Because there is HOPE.” They gave me a sticker and I promptly wrote everyone’s name I knew that either had cancer, passed away from it or surivived….Grampa, Great Grampa, Aunt Gert, Aunt Patty, Uncle Ray, Joyce, Grace, Patty S., Kate, Maureen, Great Grandma, Bernice…..and stuck it on my shirt.

I was happy to have been a part of this uplifting event and to be part of their day. At the end of the day, I made the decision that I would start my own Relay For Life Team. I told my husband on the drive home and he told me he would be my first team member. It was Grace, his sister, who passed away at age 17, six weeks after being diagnosed with Liver Cancer. And Joyce, his mom, who has had cancer on and off for the last 15 years. Then Patty S., his aunt, who was just diagnosed last year with breast cancer and had a masectomy.

Always remember, you may only be one person…but you can always make a difference in the life of someone else.

Tags: Relay For Life, charity, The American Cancer Society